Community Service
by Astra H. Lowelle
Summary: Told to 'give back to the Muggles', nineteen-year-old Draco Malfoy finds himself doing volunteer work at a Muggle children's hospital.
1. Chapter 1

Community service.

Community service _indeed._

Draco groaned inwardly as he made his way down the pristine white hallway to the reception desk. Of all the places to be working off the Ministry verdict, it had to be here.

A Muggle children's hospital.

"May I help you?"

Draco snapped back to the present. The receptionist eyed him oddly. "May I help you, sir?"

"I'm a volunteer," Draco explained through a hard-put smile. "I'll be coming all week. I was sent by-"

He named a fictitious organization that the receptionist seemed to swallow. Her eyes lit up with pleasure.

"That's wonderful! We don't usually get volunteers. These poor little mites don't get visitors often, you know..."

She pulled a small card from her desk. Draco noticed it was similar to the one she wore, with a blank space by the name. She looked up at him. "Your name, please?"

"Jake." It was close enough to his own name that he wouldn't forget it, and seemed non-descript enough. "Jake Malloy."

"All right." She wrote the name down. "Follow me, please, Jake."

She clicked out from behind her desk and led him into a maze of white hallways. "Have you ever volunteered before, Jake?"

"Uh- no."

"Hmmm." She paused before a doorway marked _Post-Op._ "Maybe you could start off with another volunteer. Let her show you the ropes, you know."

Draco sighed as she pushed open the door.

The sigh turned into a gasp as he saw who the other volunteer was.


	2. Chapter 2

"_Granger?"_

"_Malfoy?"_

"Oh, you two know each other!" The receptionist was delighted. "How nice! Well, Hermione, you're in luck. Your friend Jake is going to be volunteering all this week, and you'll get to show him the ropes! Isn't that nice?"

"Oh, yes, very," Hermione managed. "Very nice."

"I'll see you later then, you two," the receptionist trilled as she clicked out the door.

There was a very awkward silence.

"Hermione?" came a weak voice from the bed Hermione was sitting beside. Hermione bent over him immediately. "Yes, Martin? What is it?"

"Who is that?"

"This is-" Hermione bit her lip a moment, mouthing over Martin's head to Draco. _What did you say your name was?_

"Jake," he said out loud. "Jake Malloy."

"Oh."

"Is he new?" Martin asked. Hermione nodded, then gently pushed the little boy back against the pillows as he tried to sit up.

"Lay back, Marty. I know you're probably tired and sore, so just try to rest now, all right?"

Martin nodded drowsily as Hermione tucked the soft blue blanket around him. "That's better, isn't it? I'll be right back; I just need to talk to- uh- to Jake for a minute."

She rose and, motioning Draco to follow her, headed for an unoccupied corner of the room.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered. "And who's Jake Malloy?"

Draco heaved a deep sigh. Now, he was stuck volunteering with _Granger._ This day could not possibly get any better.

Oh wait, yes it could. Now he had to explain everything.


	3. Chapter 3

"... and so the Ministry is making me 'give back to the Muggles'," he finished finally. "I'll be here all week. Apparently, I need to follow you around today to get a feel for what I'm supposed to do with these brats."

He was completely unprepared for the vicious slap across his cheek. Just barely restraining himself from yelping aloud, he clutched the side of his face as he glared at her.

"What did you do that for, you filthy-!"

"Don't you _dare_ call them 'brats'," Hermione hissed. "Don't you _dare_. You're nineteen years old, can't you behave yourself?"

"Not if you keep slapping me!" he shot back. Hermione drew in a deep breath.

"Look, Malfoy, or Malloy if that's what you're going as here, if you're going to volunteer, you have to be nice. Is that too hard for you?"

Merlin, she looked _good _when she was angry. "Oh no, Granger, no, not at all."

"Don't be like that," she sighed. "Look. I know you don't want to be here, but this is a job where you have to be nice. I don't know why the Ministry chose this for your service, but-"

"Are you saying I'm incapable of being nice?" He put a wounded look on his face. "Come on, Granger, don't you believe in change?"

"You're the one who called them 'brats' a minute ago."

"Touché." He grinned, then sobered. "You're right. I shouldn't have said it. But I'll make you a deal. I'll bet you that before the end of this day, these kids will be begging me to come back. If they do, I'll come back another week."

She raised an eyebrow. "And if they don't?"

"I'll be your servant for a day."

Hermione looked surprised, then a mischievous smile lit her face. "Deal."

"No sabotage," he warned.

She looked offended. "Who do you think I am, you?"


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione was surprised at the whole turn of events. What she had thought would be a humdrum sort of day at the hospital was turning out to be quite interesting.

She went back to Martin's bedside, Malfoy- _Malloy_, she really had to remember- tagging along behind her. Martin had fallen asleep.

"That's that," Malfoy said quietly. "What now?"

Hermione turned her attention to the newest arrival. "I'll go see to her. Come on."

The little girl was extremely distressed. Hermione sat down beside her. "What's the matter-" she quickly checked the bracelet- "Susie?"

"My mummy and d-d-daddy missed their flight over here, and they won't be here until t-t-ten," she sniffled. "And my arm h-hurts."

Hermione nodded sympathetically. "That's hard. If your mummy and daddy were here, what would they do?"

Susie wiped her nose on the bedsheet. "They would t-tell me a story. They said they w-would when they came back, but they're not h-h-here..."

She dissolved into tears again.

"Would it help if _we_ told you a story?" Draco offered, surprising himself as much as Hermione. Both girls looked up at him in surprise.

"A story?" Susie sniffled, just as Hermione said, _"You?"_

"Why not?" Draco gave an expressive shrug, winking at Hermione. "I'm a great story-teller."

Hermione looked as though she wanted to say something when a white-coated nurse came running into the ward.

"Oh, Hermione! Thank goodness I found you. John's back in the burn ward and he's kicking up an absolute fuss, says he won't eat for anyone except Hermione, Hermione, Hermione. D'you think you could come, please?"

Hermione got up. "I'll be right there." To Draco, she added, "John's a regular here. He's always doing something dangerous. Are you sure you can handle Susie?"

"Of course I can." Draco gave his trademark smirk. "Can't let myself be enslaved to you, can I?"

Hermione left with the nurse. Draco looked down at his charge, suddenly somewhat lost.

"I'm Jake," he offered. Susie sniffed again.

"I'm Susie. Will you tell me a story?"

Draco nodded. "What kind of story?" he asked warily, wondering whether he had bitten off more than he could chew here. Susie thought for a moment.

"I want a story about a princess."


	5. Chapter 5

Draco swallowed. "A princess?"

Susie nodded, the tears already drying on her small face. Draco thought for a moment. When he was much younger, his mother would read him snatches of Shakespeare before he went to bed. Shakespeare had been a hidden wizard, obviously, or his mother wouldn't have read it to him. But maybe he could cobble bits of his favorite play with a princess or two to keep Susie happy.

"All right," he began. "There was a princess named Hermia..."

"No, no, no," Susie interrupted. "You have to start with 'once upon a time'."

_Shakespeare never started with 'once upon a time',_ Draco thought. "Fine. Once upon a time, there was a princess named Hermia. She was in love with a peasant named-" he thought for a moment, then grinned. "Named Ronald."

Susie settled back into the bed with a happy sigh, her pain forgotten. Draco continued.

"So Princess Hermione- I mean Hermia-"

"Call her Hermione," Susie interjected sleepily. "I like that better."

"Right. Princess Hermione wanted to marry the peasant Ronald but her father wanted her to marry a prince named Draco."

_Once I'm changing, may as well have some fun,_ Draco thought. "Draco was always making fun of Princess Hermione when they were little, so Princess Hermione didn't want to marry him. So she ran away to the forest with Ronald."

Draco noted with some amusement that half the ward was listening in, including some of the nurses. "When Prince Draco heard about this, he got very angry and ran after them. Another princess, Princess Pansy, ran after Prince Draco."

"Why?" Susie wanted to know.

"Because she was in love with him," Draco replied. "When they were little, Prince Draco and Princess Pansy would play together and go to balls, but when Prince Draco grew up, he didn't like her anymore. He started to like Princess Hermione instead. But Princess Pansy just wouldn't stop bothering him."

"So what did he do?" called a boy from the next bed.

_Just how much can I adapt this story?_ Draco wondered. He decided to have a little more liberty. Shakespeare would never know. "Well, Prince Draco ran away from Princess Pansy, who was chasing him."

"I thought Prince Draco was chasing Princess Hermione and Ronald," Susie cut in. Draco sighed. "He was. There was a lot of chasing. Then, the Fairy King and Queen made everyone fall asleep, and a little elf named Peeves made both Prince Draco and Ronald fall in love with Princess Pansy."

"Oh, _no!_" Susie squealed. "Then what happened?"


	6. Chapter 6

"Then there was a big fight," Draco went on. "Princess Pansy and Princess Hermione had a cat scrap, and Prince Draco and Ronald decided to have a duel. Then the Fairy King and Queen saw what a big mess Peeves had made."

"So what did they do?"

"They sent Peeves to lead them away from each other. Then, the Fairy King told Peeves to take away the love spell from one of the boys, so everyone would be in love. So Peeves went and made Ronald fall in love with Princess Hermione again."

Susie sighed with disappointment. "I wanted Prince Draco to fall in love with Princess Hermione."

"Me, too," Draco sighed. "And he did. Except Princess Hermione was in love with Ronald."

"So then Prince Draco picked up his big sword," piped the boy, "and chopped off Ronald's head, and Princess Pansy got so scared that she ran away, and then Prince Draco and Princess Hermione lived happily ever after!"

A big cheer went up.

Susie smiled. "I like that end. It's a good end."

"That is a good end," Draco agreed. "A very good end."

"What's a good end?" Hermione asked blankly, walking back into the ward. "What's everyone cheering about?"

"Jake told the best story ever!" the boy crowed. Draco felt heat rise in his face._ Please, please, please don't tell the story over to Hermione, please, please, please, please-_

"Want me to tell it to you?" Susie offered.

Hermione smiled. "Maybe another time, Susie, all right? I need to go home now."

"Can Jake stay?" the boy asked hopefully.

"He'll be back tomorrow," Hermione smiled.

"And next week, too," Draco murmured as he and Hermione left the ward. "It appears I won."


End file.
